Hot Off the Machine.....several weeks ago!

As usual, I'm behind on posting pictures of some of the quilts I have machine quilted. In this post, I want to share three quilts that I'm sure will be shown in the Gun Barrel Quilter's Guild Quilt Show in April.

The first is a design created by my mom using the Circle of Nine setting. Her fan quilt is sure to be a hit at the GBQG Quilt Show...this year's theme is "Quilting is FANtastic." Her hand appliqued fans have a three-dimensional look about them. I think the choice of fabric colors helps achieve this effect.

I love this texture!

Fan Block

Can't have too many feathers!

Bunnies!! And these are the cutest bunnies ever! Bernice used a wide variety of fabrics on these hand appliqued bunnies. That's what gives them their character. I don't know the plans she has for this quilt, but I think any child would fall in love with it instantly.

Aren't they too cute?

A bunny close-up

Had to have feathers, of course.

These little bunnies got the carrot!

Bernice made this quilt also. It was a panel with coordinating border fabrics. It has a real  nostalgic feel to it. I wanted to quilt it so that you would not be able to tell if it was all panel or pieced. I was well pleased with the outcome. I hope she will be too!

Closeup of center panel

Piano key borders

Mariner's star in the cornerstone blocks

Faux crosshatching in plaid border really added texture.

A look at the back

Thanks ladies, for allowing me to quilt on your works of art!

BLACK and WHITE QUILTS

It seems that I've quilted quite a few black and white quilts in the past few months. The last two have been special in very different ways.

When Patty sent me this black and white quilt top, I didn't know the story behind it. I only knew that she didn't want the quilting to overshadow the piecing and design of the top. So I gave her a call to find out if she had something specific in mind.

I was surprised to find out that she had not made the top. It had been made by a friend's 90 year old grandmother. As if that wasn't special enough, this quilt top was going to be the LAST quilt she planned to make. It was made up of logcabin blocks created from a variety of black and white prints. The quilter added a little "zing" to the quilt top by using a deep forest green fabric with a black design in it. I loved the look.

The workmanship on this quilt was amazing. I was so honored to get to quilt it. I was really pleased with the outcome.

I know the recipient of this quilt appreciates just how special it is.

The other black and white quilt was made by my friend Felicia. It's a wedding gift for her niece. This star design has such visual impact. I know it's going to look great on a bed. In fact, I've already auditioned it on my bed!

I quilted an all-over swirl design in the black areas with black thread and a leaf and vine design in the white areas with white thread. Thanks to one of my favorite threads, Glide, I was able to use white thread in the bobbin for the entire quilt....no white pokies showing up with the black top thread!!

I can't wait to see this quilt at the wedding shower with the big pillows that Felicia made to match!

I'm so blessed to be able to be a part of so many wonderful quilts!

PLAYING "CATCH-UP"

I just realized that one-twelfth of 2014 is gone! I'm looking at my "quilt book" where I write down all the quilts that are waiting for me, and I see so many quilts that I finished in 2013....and I haven't posted pics of them on the blog!

Well it's time to do some catching up. I guess I was just pushing so hard to get so many quilts finished before Christmas that I just forgot about posting pics. So this post won't be about just one quilt. Let's just say that you'll see quite a smorgasborg here.

Machine embroidered fans done by my mom.

Close-up of quilting in the fan blocks.

Paper-pieced zinnias created by Dorothy.

Close-ups of concentric circles and petals within the zinnia.

Drunkard's Path Variation with an Oriental flair created by Elaine.

Love the batiks!

Jane's Star Quilt

Each star was quilted differently.

The center block

Beautiful batiks...hand applique and hand embroidery....from the third Wanda!  Isn't is amazing that I know three quilters named Wanda?

Close-up of border

Beautiful hand-work!

A wonderful Oriental-style quilt created by Dorothy!

Hope you have enjoyed the "eye-candy" in this post!

Loving the Barns!

The Barns quilt was hand embroidered by my talented mother. I struggled a bit with deciding how much quilting was needed inside the barn blocks. For the most part, I decided that less was more. I didn't want too much quilting to take away from the workmanship of the embroidery.

I filled the red sashing strips with stones...much like a stone wall. The tan blocks between the strips were perfect for wood-grain quilting....like barn-wood.

A Batik Beauty

Well, my mom has done it again! She created a fabulous batik top with hand-appliqued blocks set in the "Circle of Nine" pattern. This design gave me the opportunity to try some new quilting designs (at least new for me).

I had been looking at curved crosshatching, reading how-to guides, and watching videos. But like so many other things we learn, I just had to dive in and quilt it only to find out that it's not as hard as it looks.

I also had been wanting to do some overlapping arches with rulers. I was able to echo the shape of the petals in the flowers with the arches in the borders of this quilt.